Instead of Breathing
by hikomokushi
Summary: It all started with a kiss.. KakaSaku; Various other Pairings


**Title:** Instead of Breathing  
**Fandom/Community:** Naruto / **kakasaku**  
**Pairing:** Hatake Kakashi x Haruno Sakura  
**Rating:** Teen, as of now.  
**Disclaimer:** Kishimoto-sensei owns.  
**Summary:** It all started with a kiss.. [KakaSaku]

**Author Notes:** Originally, I was going to use this completely under **50scenes**, but then I noticed the **kakasaku** challenge and decided to make this a compilation of 11 chapters and not just 10. So the rest of them will use the **50scenes** word prompts.  
First story of the New Year. I won't be updating regularly, but I'll probably get this finished before the end of February. Haha. Everybody's been asking about _Picture Trends_, and trust me, I am still working on it. I, uhm, need a new Beta though. So if anybody's interested, just email me or something. I'm pretty.. ehh.. _picky_ about who I have Beta my work. But I mean, I'm willing to consider anybody. (: This piece is un-beta-ed, of course, so sorry for any mistakes that I missed at 3:03AM.

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**Rating:** PG  
**Warning:** Boy-girl stuff and some alcohol.  
**Word Count:** 1,321.

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**december 31.  
new years eve.  
****_omisoka._**

She grabbed Ino by the arm, hauling her away from the chuunin she'd backed into the corner. For a moment Sakura debated whether the look that crossed the man's face was irritation or relief. When he casually eased away, she decided on relief. Incredible relief. He left to another room with a speed rivaled only when Jiraiya was about to be caught peeking through holes in walls.

"Forehead," growled Ino, an eye twitching angrily, "_what_ are you doing?"

Sakura crossed her arms underneath her breasts and returned her friends glower equally. "It's nearly midnight and you have been shuffling around the dark shadows of the club for nearly two hours now. This is _your_ party," Sakura reminded her blithely, her expression an intentional mask of coolness. Irritated swelled within her, but she took a calming breath. "I may have helped you get things set up with renting this place out, but I am not going to play co-host with you tonight. Come be social, not stalkerish."

Ino whined, "But Sakura, Keiji is _sooo_ cute!" The blonde waved her arms emphatically in the air between them before sighing. "And he hasn't been paying any attention to me at all. I've tried so hard... What am I doing wrong?"

"Trying so hard." Sakura laughed, gently linking arms with the girl, tugging her towards the other room. "Come. Socialize. It's what you do best."

"Easy for you to say! You never have anybody to kiss on New Years." Sakura took another deep breath as she reminded herself that Ino was slightly looser with her tongue than she'd normally be when she'd had alcohol. "It's bad luck not to have anybody to kiss on New Years, you should know that by now!" Ino waspishly flung hair away from her face as the pink-haired woman led her into the largest room. Sakura's smile widened mockingly as they closed in on their group of friends, lounging in the center of the room, drinks in hand, on a few sofas. Ino sighed, aware that her friend would not be deterred.

Tenten glanced up as the two girls walked between two of the sofas, a smiling co-conspirator , and she handed Ino a drink from the table next to them as the blonde floundered down into the seat next to her. "C'mon, Ino, liven up. You don't need a specific guy to kiss on New Years, heck... You don't even need a guy." The look of sheer mortification on Ino's face was far too much for Sakura's alcohol-fuzzied brain, and the young woman prompted dissolved into a blubbering fit of giggles. "Okay, okay!" Tenten laughed, ruffling the girl's hair. "You don't have to kiss one of us. Just kiss Shikamaru, he doesn't have a date either."

Ino grumbled, but glanced surreptitiously to where the young brunette man sat a short distance away and wondered how easily she could convince her teammate of mouth to mouth action.

"So it doesn't matter," she said eventually, sighing, "but who you kiss is also supposed to influence your love life for the next year. You can't just kiss _anyone_." Her blue-eyed glower deepened when she noticed neither Sakura nor Tenten were listening—just drinking.

Tenten opened her mouth to reply as she wiped at her chin where some sake had dribbled down, but Naruto interrupted her by leaping to his feet—nearly spilling his drink all over Sasuke—and announcing, "Five minutes 'til midnight!"

Tenten laughed, but Ino didn't look amused. "Hey, Sakura, speaking of kissing, where's your date?"

"Don't have one!" Sakura answered back, shrugging, as she sipped a large, fruity iced drink through a straw. "I invited Kakashi to come, so the two of us could be dateless together. You know how that man is... But I think he bailed on me. I haven't seen him all night." She took another drink before continuing, "He's probably curled up in his bed at home, reading his porn. He'd think it was a lovely way to start the New Year."

"You would invite him." Ino sniffed reproachfully. "He's such an old lecher. "

Sakura glared at her friend over her drink, jade eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Hey, don't get insulting, Ino, just because you're not having a good time," she snapped, glancing away. "He may be rude and ignorant and selfish, but he's still a friend of mine and you shouldn't insult him. At least not to my face. He really is—"

"Not late?"

A great big grin broke out on her face as she turned in her seat to glance up at the ninja behind her. "You've arrived just in time.!" She laughed and hugged him lightly. "My hero, come to save me from all the couples."

He smiled back sheepishly. "Sorry I'm late, Sakura-chan, but Tsunade-sama had me filing papers all evening. Something about how I don't do paperwork. I wasn't going to come, but you'd seemed so down when you asked me. I figured I'd come at least say Happy New Years to you at midnight before going home to sleep."

Sakura smirked. "It's what you get for never filing your assignments," she reprimanded lightly, reaching down into the cooler next to her. She retrieved a beer and stood to hand it to him. "But you're forgiven. You got here before midnight."

Naruto was obnoxiously yelling out a countdown that was somewhere around twenty, leaning heavily on Sasuke, but the Uchiha didn't seem to mind. Kakashi opened and tipped the beer to her, and she turned away politely to give him some privacy. She smiled and lifted her hands into the air with the rest of the group, loudly counting down the rest of the numbers, until Naruto gave a loud holler and swooped in to plant a large, wet kiss on Sasuke's lips. The boy didn't blush, but paled faintly. "Happy New Year!" the blond young man laughed when the two of them had finally detached.

Kakashi tapped Sakura on the shoulder. "Happy New Year, Sakura," he said happily.

"Happy New—"

Sakura barely had time to register that his mask was still down and his nose was straight, lips even and thin around his boyish smile before she was promptly cut off as Kakashi tightened his grip on her shoulder and pressed his lips firmly against hers. Warmth flushed through her body and her eyes fluttered close. An arm wrapped around her middle, momentarily pulling her flush against a long, hard body. The man kissed her deeply, lips moving at a languid pace, but efficiently stealing the very breath from her lungs. And without even thinking, Sakura moved to wrap her arm around the older ninja's neck. But as soon as he'd been there, he was gone. Blinking rapidly, a blush crept furiously onto her cheeks as she glanced around—but nobody seemed to have noticed. Shikamaru was blushing while Ino was laughing, still holding onto his arm. Tenten was nowhere to be seen, Kiba had backed Hinata into a dark corner. Naruto and Sasuke were far too involved to notice what had happened three feet to their right.

Shakily, Sakura lifted her fingertips to her lips, blush deepening. Kakashi's beer was open but untouched on the table at her side, and his mouth had tasted nothing like alcohol. Even if anybody had noticed, she could blame her actions on the amount of hard liquor she'd imbibed. However, explaining Kakashi's would take a lot more.

Ino's laughing drug her back to reality as her friend wrapped an arm about her shoulders. "Thanks, Sakura. You're a really great friend. Now, how about we find you a guy to start off your New Year the right way?" The blonde winked saucily at her.

"I, uhm..." Sakura stuttered, unsure of what to say. "Sure thing, Ino." She bit down gently and tasted something other than her peach lipgloss on her lips. Something she was sure tasted purely Kakashi. "Whatever you say."

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to be continued..


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